Simple Living

For 2016 Toyota Highlanders that use a key ignition to reset the oil change maintenance light do the following: Power off the car. Insert the key and turn it 2 positions to ‘on’. Press odometer button to Trip A. Turn key to off position. Hold odometer button and keep holding then turn key to ‘on’ position. It’ll flash maintenance resetting and when done you can let go of odometer button. Car maintenance light is now reset.

Hit 100k miles today on my 2015 Camry.  Granted it had 88k miles when I bought it in 2022, so really I only added 12k miles in last 22 months or about 600 miles per month. I’m driving about half the rate of the previous owner who would have to hit 1k miles per month to reach 88k in 7 years. Decade more to go…2032 Ideally, I want this car to last me an additional 70-90k miles or 10-13 more years if I continue to drive 7k miles per year. 170-190k seems reasonable as I test drove another 2015 Camry before buying this one that had that much mileage and it drove effortlessly.  I opted for the 88k mile Camry for obvious reasons.  My greater concern is not the mileage, but the number of years and it’ll hit 8 years of age in 2023 and 15 years by 2030.  That seems to be the max age for a typical Camry…and that was about when I sold my Lexus (2007-2022) so it’s plausible. Maybe 2 Decades…2042 I’m willing to be ambitious and go for 20 years or 2042 with 233k miles.  The Camry would be pushing 27

Starting a maintenance log for my 2016 Toyota Highlander. 10/10/2020 - New Tires - $750 04/02/2021 - Oil Change & Tire Rotation - $120 09/03/2021 - Oil Change & Air Filter - $259 02/03/2022 - Oil Change - $126 06/01/2022 - Oil Change, New Brakes & Rotors - $1200 They did a terrible job on the brakes.  Had to go back 5 times until they finally fixed most of it.  Still squeals, so never going back to this shop. 10/05/2022 - New Battery - $122 Car died and suspected the battery so got a new one at Costco and installed it myself. Part# 852154 Group# 24F 07/07/2023 - Oil Change - $140 Standard oil change and asked to check the brakes. 09/03/2023 - New Tires - Michelin - $900 Didn’t realize I need to perform a wheel alignment and never did it when I bought tires back in 2020.  So I learned  the hard way to do an alignment. 09/09/2023 - Trans Flush, Coolant Flush, Wheel Alignment - $650 Did the wheel alignment as well as trans and coolant flush as I hit 70.8k miles. 11/04/2023 - O

I kinda liked logging my car maintenance and gas fill up’s when I owned the Lexus and will do the same with the Camry. Jan 2022 - $900 - 90k Service I like to do preventive maintenance so I paid $900 to do whatever was needed. 3/8/22 - 27.7 mpg 9.8 gallons on 271 miles.  Did a partial fill-up as prices are going up daily and have easily gone up a $1 in just a few days! Had I filled up a few days earlier I would have saved $8 on 10 gallons of gas. 3/13/22 - 31.4 mpg 9.45 gallons on 297 miles.  Did a 260 mile road trip on the weekend.  Most of it was highway miles so was expecting better gas mileage. 3/23/22 - 26.8 mpg 8.2 gallons on 220 miles.  At this pace I’m using a full tank every 10-20 days or about 15 days.  At that pace I need to fill-up 24 times a year. That’s 408 gallons of gas (17 gallons x 24).  At $5 a gallon that’s $2,040/year or $170/month on fuel cost. To save some money, I’m gonna cut that down by 25% to 306 gallons or 18 tanks.  That’ll save me $510/yr. It’s feasibl

  Picked up a 2015 Toyota Camry XLE as a replacement for the Lexus IS250.  I’m optimistic the Camry will enjoy the famed Toyota reliability, but hedging my bets with another $3200 extended warranty. The Camry cost me about $18k, then $3200 for the warranty with an out the door price of about $23,000. Yes, it’s a bit high, but it’s the top level trim for the 4 cylinder and had only 88k miles. I did the math and no matter how I spin it, the monthly cost to own any reasonable car was going to be about $350-$400.  The Camry hits the high end of that range. Specs - 2015 Camry XLE Engine - 2.5L - 4 Cylinder - 2AR-FE HP - 178 @ 6000 Torque - 170 @ 4100 Transmission - 6 Speed Performance: 0-60: 7.9 seconds 1/4 Mile: 16.2 seconds @ 88 mph EPA MPG: 25 City / 35 Highway Dimensions: Length: 190.9 inches Wheelbase: 109.3 inches Height: 57.9 inches Width (w/o mirrors): 71.7 inches First Impressions — Old Reliable Eh…it’s a Camry and it’s a smooth and reliable ride.  Acceleration is a modest 8

I picked up my 2007 Lexus IS250 in 2018 for $11,000 and have owned it for more than 3 years (as of 2021).  I kinda went into this one blind having only experience with Toyota’s and thought a Lexus would be similar in terms of reliability and maintenance; they are not.  I fortunately purchased an extended warranty for $2,400, which later proved a very wise move. For comparison a brand new 2018 Corolla would have cost about $22,000 at the same time I purchased the Lexus.  So initially, I was ahead by $8,600 and driving a very nice luxury car. Specs - 2007 Lexus IS250 Engine - 2.5L - V6 RWD HP - 204 @ 6.4k Torque - 185 @ 4.8k Transmission - 6 Speed Performance: 0-60: 7.4 seconds 1/4 Mile: 15.4 seconds @ 88 mph EPA MPG: 24 City / 32 Highway Dimensions: Length: 180.1  inches Wheelbase: 107.5 inches Height: 56.1 inches Width (w/o mirrors): 70.9 inches   I. Conclusion - TL/DR - It's Not Worth It So my journey comes to an end and I'm parting with the Lexus for $6,000.  This r

 I'm planning to sell my Lexus after 3 years of ownership sometime in 2021.  While I loved the car and enjoyed it, I want to get something simpler like a Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic.  What surprised me are other people selling cars similar in age and mileage are asking for prices near my original purchase price. I'm in no rush as the car is great and may start offering it for sale in the Summer of 2021, but not sell it until near the end of the year.  I should then be able to find a used Corolla or Civic for 1/2 the price of the IS250. Another option is possibly a 1st or 2nd generation Toyota Highlander.  I've always liked that boxy style of SUV and a decent example of a V6 model would be cool. Update - 5/30/21 I’m going to keep my car for a while longer.  Prices are spiking and I’m not sure if this means inflation is going to start causing prices to skyrocket?   Update - 12/26/21 Party's Over.  The used car prices are dropping.  Missed my chance and g

 I recently picked up a 2nd Generation IS250 and driven it for a few weeks.  Paid $11k for it.  The IS250 is a joy to drive and satisfied my basic requirements: Daily Driver (mostly freeway/highway miles) 6-Cylinder (V6) Motor Sedan Bodystyle I'm probably in the minority of car owners as I disdain SUV's / Hatchbacks and Turbos; which seems to be what the majority of models car manufacturers offer these days. Specs - 2007 Lexus IS250 Engine - 2.5L - V6 RWD - 4GR-FSE HP - 204 @ 6400 Torque - 185 @ 4800 Transmission - 6 Speed Performance: 0-60: 7.4 seconds 1/4 Mile: 15.4 seconds @ 88 mph EPA MPG: 24 City / 32 Highway Dimensions: Length: 180.1  inches Wheelbase: 107.5 inches Height: 56.1 inches Width (w/o mirrors): 70.9 inches I. Highway Cruiser - Yes In short, the Lexus IS250 was designed for the open freeways and highways and feels most at home above 60 mph.  It's when you overcome its anemic 7 second 0-60 and can rev into the 3-4k RPM power band when the IS250 is

I bought my 2016 Highlander new and paid $31k.  It’s been a good car and served me well.  Hope to keep it for many more years. Specs - 2016 Highlander V6 LE FWD Engine 3.5L V6 - 2GR-FE HP: 270 @ 6200 Torque: 248 @ 4700 Transmission - 6 speed Performance: 0-60: 6.9 seconds 1/4 Mile: 15.2 @ 89 mph EPA MPG: 19 City / 25 Highway Dimensions: Length: 191.1 inches Wheelbase: 109.8 inches Height: 68.1 inches Width (without mirrors): 75.8 inches Why the Highlander?  The V6 Engine The main reason I wanted this car was the V6 engine.  It’s one of Toyota’s best motors ever created and provides performance, reliability and decent gas mileage.  It’s probably one of the best engines ever made for a car and if they had one available for my 2015 Camry I’d have bought one too. Overall how has it been? So far so good.  After 7 years of ownership other than preventive maintenance, it’s been an excellent car.